Lacemaking to be declared a heritage item by UNESCO

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A centuries-old handicraft that some say inspired the tablecloth in Leonardo da Vinci's The Last Supper is getting a new lease on life in Cyprus.

Lefkaritiko lacemaking, an intricate form of needlework passed down from generation to generation is about to be declared a heritage item by UNESCO, the United Nations agency responsible for the protection and promotion of culture.

The craft has been around for 500 years and has passed on from generation to generation in Pano Lefkara, a village nestled in the mountains some 50 km south-west of Nicosia, Cyprus's capital.

Women of this community of only 11-hundred still sit in doorways shaded with lush bougainvillea along narrow paved streets, nimbly working pieces of linen with deft strokes of a needle and single thread.

Lace maker Eleni Raouna, said, "I first started basic needlework when I was 12, 13 years old, then I came to Lefkara and I learned a much better craft. I learned it from my grandmother and my mother in law. What makes it distinct is the work that goes into it, the legend behind it, and the effort it takes to make it."

It was an art form good enough to impress painter Leonardo da Vinci when he visited Cyprus in 1481. Local legend says that he took one of the embroideries back with him as a gift for the Milan Cathedral.

That same legend suggests that it inspired the tablecloth design on The Last Supper painting, where Jesus and his twelve disciples are featured in the Christian biblical tradition having their last communal meal.

UNESCO is expected to ratify the lace as an item of world heritage sometime this month.